Erick walton



F. WALTON. K Apparatus for the Manufacture of Varnish.

No. 31,343. Patented Feb. 5, 1861.

ENE-EU rns enrich.

FREDERICK \VALTON, OF BENTON, NEAR MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF VARNISH.

' Specification of Letters Patent No. 31,8t3, dated February 5, 1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK. \VALTON, of Haughton Dale, Denton, near Manchester, England, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, have invented or discovered a new and useful or Improved Machine for Treating Oils or Converting Them into Semiresinous Bodies; and I, the said FRED- nnicn lVALToN, do hereby declare that the nature of the said invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed are particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof.

It is well known that when drying oils are exposed to the action of air or are oxidized they become converted into bodies of a seiniresinous nature. Now in order to obtain a semiresinous body or to increase the drying properties of an oil I proceed as follows :I take linseed oil perfectly clear and bright and I mix therewith a suitable drier preferring to employ from 5'to 10 per cent. acetate of lead. This mixture I pass through the machine shown in the annexed drawing.

Figure 1 is a front view, Fig. 2 plan and Fig. 3 a vertical section of the machine.

a. is a pipe leading from a force pump by which the oil is forced into the vessel Z). At the bottom of this reservoir is a grating c the perforations in which are very fine say of an inch or less in diameter. The grating is supported on a suitable gridiron frame beneath it. The oil forced through the perforations falls in a line shower through the column (Z and as it falls it comes in contact with a current of air forced in at e by a fan. The two sides of the column are inclosed with glass in order that light may enter the column as it tends to bleach the oil.

and f are sheets of perforated zinc through the sheet f. The air enters the column and through the sheet f it escapes from it-these perforated sheets diffuse the air entering at c and prevent the line streams of oil from being blown out of the column. The current of air that passes through the apparatus need not be very strong as all that is required is constantly to change the air in the column. The front of the apparatus may either be left open as is shown or a casing may be employed to conduct the air which has been brought in contact with the oil into a flue. The oil descends into a cistern g under the bottom of which is a steam space it by which the oil under treatment is kept at a temperature between 212 and 550 Fahrenheit. \Vhen the higher temperatures however are employed it is convenient to substitute for steam as a heating medium a bath of a fusible metal such as tin or an alloy of tin and lead the higher the temperature the more rapid will the process become. 2' is a pipe communicating with the oil pump for taking the oil from the cistern 9 and returning it to the top reservoir Z). Thus the same oil is kept circulating through the machine until it is judged to be sutliciently viscid for the purpose for which it is required. At the top of the reservoir b is a small cylinder j in which a piston 73 works. Z is a lever in connection therewith weighted to the pressure which it is desired to maintain in the vessel .7). From the lever Z a rod m descends and is connected with a cock in the pipe '4' in such a manner that when the piston L rises from excess of pressure the communication between the oil pump and the cistern 9 is cut off.

Oil treated as above described when it has thickened sufficiently is suitable to be used by painters and others in place of boiled oil and it will be of a better color. In some cases particularly when it is desirable to work with as little lead as-possible I boil the oil in the usual manner of boiling linseed oil before submitting it to the action of air as above described. I do not add any acetate of lead after the boiling operation and during the subsequent process I do not raise the temperature of the oil to so high a degree as when working with unboiled oil 212 Fahrenheit is sufficient. The product obtained from boiled oil will be more highly colored than that obtained by the use of un boiled oil. If the process is to be carried on to a sufficient extent to obtain a semiresinous body the process should not be carried so far in the machine above described as materially to reduce the fluidity of the oilt-he change being afterward completed by spreading the oil in a thin film on an extended surface.

I am aware that for the purpose of treating oils, it has been customary to use a vessel containing perforated pipes, and that such vessel has been heated by steam pipes or other means, and that air has been blown into the perforated pipes so to bubble through the mass of oil. I -am also aware that for the purpose of clarifying and bleaching oils it has been suggested to use a tower having glazed sides, and to cause the oil to flow, in finely divided streams down within such tower .and to encounter a current of air forced up in a contrary direction. Therefore, I do not claim any such means of treating an oil, as my machine difiers therefrom, in important particulars. First. It contains means of dividing both the air and the oil into fine streams. Second. The arrangement of its air current producing apparatus with respect to the oil current apparatus is such as to cause the currents of air to be forced transversely and at right angles between those of the oil the same serving to greatly facilitate the evaporation of the vapors of the oil. Third. A heating chamber or oil reservoir, g, and

a steam space h, are arranged below the evaporating space and there is combined with them and the oil strainer C, a close 

